Ain.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1886. 
Preparation  of  Amy  I  Nitrite. 
35 
others  as  high  as  98°  to  100°.  Probably  95°  or  96°  may  be  the 
correct  point  •  our  experiments  rather  tend  to  confirm  that  temperature 
as  the  correct  one.  Of  course  the  effort  of  the  manufacturer  is  to 
obtain  from  a  given  amount  of  material  the  largest  possible  quantity 
of  a  product  boiling  under  or  about  100°  C,  and  in  practice  we  con- 
sider the  operation  a  successful  one  when  we  obtain  to  of  the  result 
distilled  at  that  point.  It  not  unfrequently  occurs,  however,  that  the 
result  is  anything  but  satisfactory,  and  at  one  time  we  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  accounting  for  the  discrepancies  observed.  We  have  now 
been  engaged  for  some  time  past  in  a  series  of  experiments  to  try  and 
determine  if  possible  under  what  circumstances  the  best  results  were 
obtained,  and  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  cause  of  the  failures  we  some- 
times met  with.  We  should  mention  that  in  all  our  experiments  we 
have  employed  the  same  sample  of  ainyl  alcohol.  This  had  been  care- 
fully purified  and  distilled  in  a  current  of  steam  several  times;  it 
probably  still  contained  traces  of  ethylic  alcohol,  and  possibly  other 
bodies,  but  was  as  pure  as  could  be  readily  obtained  by  ordinary  means. 
The  so-called  nitrous  acid  gas  was  in  all  cases  made  by  the  action  of 
nitric  acid  upon  arsenious  acid.  We  did  not  employ  starch,  as  al- 
though the  gas  so  produced  appears  to  have  some  advantages  over  that 
prepared  from  arsenious  acid,  the  manipulation  is  very  troublesome  on 
account  of  the  large  amount  of  frothing  which  occurs  during  the 
process. 
Experiment  No.  1. — The  nitric  acid  employed  in  this  case  was  of 
sp.  gr.  1500,  as  recommended  by  Ramsey  and  Cundall  in  a  paper  lately 
read  before  the  Chemical  Society.  The  red  gas  produced  was  almost 
entirely  absorbed  by  the  amyl  alcohol,  mere  traces  of  unabsorbable  gas 
escaping.  There  was  a  strong  tendency  for  the  amyl  alcohol  to  heat 
up,  and  some  care  was  required  to  prevent  this  happening.  The  pro- 
duct washed  and  distilled  gave  the  following  results : — 
42  per  cent,  came  over  under  100°  O. 
'     64      "  "  "   105°  C. 
74      "  ,"   110°  C. 
85      "'  "  .  .      ,."  120°  C. 
The  remaining  fifteen  parts  left  in  the  retort  were  not  further  ex- 
amined. The  result  was  considered  a  very  bad  one,  but  we  shall 
allude  to  it  further  on.  • 
Experiment  No.  2. — Nitric  acid,  sp.  gr.  1420,  was  used;  the  gas  was 
fairly  absorbed;  more  unabsorbable  gas,  however,  escaping  than  in 
